The Driest Desert
by Iris The Bunny
Summary: This is about a rabbit who just lost her father and sets out to Antarctica to find him, because she doesn't think he's dead. On the way she makes new friends, new enemies, new love and new found courage.


Iris: HELLO PEOPLE! Yes, bask in my awesomeness. I am back baby! Yeah yeah I know it's been AGES since I last updated but can you blame me? School, reading, movies, writers block and not being bothered really doesn't help when you're trying to make a story. But anyways, this is my first story, but better! It's gonna be longer and a lot less grammatical errors but that doesn't mean that there won't be any because, you know, late nights and not being bothered to edit things can cause these kinds of things. Anyway, ENJOY!

"Happy 16th Birthday Iris!" My mother burst into the room with my favorite cake toped with that candle that I saw mum sneak buy when she thought I wasn't looking. She thought it was special because it plays happy birthday but I had seen it at birthday parties before and even on my own cake when I was 5 all the way up to 13.

I slowly opened my eyes, still groggy from sleep. My mother knew I wasn't a morning person, but every year, on my birthday, she persisted to wake me up at 6 in the morning so she would have enough time to sing me the birthday song and serve me my cake and I would have enough time to eat the cake and open my present before I went to school. I actually used to love my mother doing this in the morning. If only I was still 4.

"Oh get up you lazy little shit! It's only 6!" I don't know why she kept shouting. We were right next to each other. I noticed she still hadn't brushed her naturally wild hair, making it even messier than normal. Like, Trelawny messy. She had managed to change into a green tank top, black cardi and white jeans, perfectly matching her light grey fur, bare feet of course. I always admired my mothers sense of style. She was one fashionable bunny, just like me. I did notice a little bump under the tank top which I was surprised to see. My mother never and I mean _never_ seemed to gain weight while I, on the other hand, have the worst metabolism in the history of the world.

I tried to sound more aggressive but I could still only manage a sleepy drone of words. "Yeah. 6. As in, a.m. Making it my 4th hour of sleep since I was up till 2 writing my 2000 word English paper that my stupid English teacher put on the class yesterday because the old bag forgot to give us one of the single most important papers of the whole year a week ago when she was supposed to give it too us."

My mother tried not to laugh at me and, when I glared at her for laughing, she laughed even harder.

"I forgot to tell you, didn't I? I was going to take you out today, for a little birthday shopping, so you can pick exactly what you want instead of me giving you a crap gift that we have to take back anyway."

I think I had never been angrier at anyone in my entire life, and I had been angry at a lot of people.

"And you couldn't wake me up _later_?"

"Sorry! It's a force of habit! Can you blame me for wanting to see my daughter?"

"Yes! I really can! Especially if that daughter was more pissed off at you than she had ever been at anyone in her entire life."

"Harsh." She did that sarcastic hurt look that I was so used to seeing. My mother was so used to my temper. "Look, if you want, I'll wake you up in 6 hours and then we can go shopping."

"Just," I face palmed and I sighed in defeat, "don't worry about it. I'm already up and, _as you know_, I won't be able to fall asleep until nightfall. Oh and mum," I stopped her in her tracks, as she was almost out the door, "is he -"

"Your father isn't home Iris. I'm sorry." She left the door open, walked back to me and sat down next to me, pulling me into a hug. "You know he wants to be here right?" I nodded into my mothers shoulder, silently starting to cry. "This job in Antarctica is very important and you know, he would do anything to be here right now."

"I know. I just wish he never got that job offer in the first place." I was crying pretty heavily now, but none if it showed in my voice.

"Me too, sweetie. But at least he comes home, and with today's technology, we can keep in touch really easily."

"But it's not the same! I need to see him, in person. I hate having to wait months until he comes home! I hate not hearing his voice and I mean his _real_ voice, not that static crap that comes through when we video chat."

"And you don't think I want that to?" She took me by the shoulders and pulled me away from her, making me look her in the eye. "Look, you need to be strong, okay? Your father is going to be out there for 1 more week. Just 1 weeks Then he'll be home again."

"But then he'll be gone in another week."

"No he won't." I looked at her, puzzled. "Did dad not tell you last night on the phone?" When I shook my head she said. "He is coming home, for good this time. E.G.G. Industries decided to bring him home because they are getting younger workers to work on the site. Your father is moving into main office building in the city and he's getting a huge pay rise too."

I looked at my mother like she was speaking in a foreign language. I couldn't believe what she said. My mother started getting worried as I hadn't said anything in a long minute. "Hey sweetie, you okay?"

"Am I okay... _Am_ I okay? I... I'm... _**soooo happy!**_" I jumped up so quickly and with so much enthusiasm, my mum fell off the bed and landed face first on the floor. "I can't believe dad is coming home! Daddy's coming ho-ome, daddy's coming ho-ome, daddy's coming ho-ome..."

"IRIS!" My mothers voice scared me so much I completely stopped in the position that I was in.

"For gods sake, child! You scared me half to death!" I relaxed my muscles.

"Sorry mummy."

"Go and get changed. I'll meet you downstairs. Caramel Latte?"

"You know me so well." As soon as she walked out of the door, I started getting dressed and then I put on _Tonight, Tonight_ by 'Hot Chelle Rae' at full blast and started singing at the top of my lungs.

In the end, I decided to wear white short shorts, a flowy, dark blue (almost black) floral top with this kind of ruffle thing down the front, black and blue gloves, an elbow length black cardi, black ballet flats and my hair tied back with a white headband, and my unusually long ears out, letting them fall down to the floor.

As I walked out of mt room and down the hallway, I smelt a mix of caramel, coffee and pancakes.

"Smells great!" I say as I walk into the kitchen. I grab a bunch of grapes that were on top of the fruit bowl.

My mum served up breakfast. It was delicious, as my mothers food usually was, and, when we had finished, we set out to the shops. The day couldn't have been better. All we did was shop and talk and eat, like every other shopping trip, but it was still awesome. I managed to get a whole bunch more things than my mum had bargained for but she let me get away with it since it was my birthday, but I knew that i'd be paying for it later. When we got home, my mum pre-ordered chinese, and we started the movie marathon that my mum does for my birthday.

It was nearly two am, the last movie finished (_Singing in the Rain_, in which drove my mother crazy by singing every single song), and then, there was a knock at the door.

"Who'd be here at this time of the night?" My mum asked.

"I'd better go find out." I pulled away the blanket that we had brought out before and went to the door. When I opened it, I was really surprised. "Mademoiselle Jacqueline Moreau. What a plesant suprise!"

"Iris Alariea, ow big you ave grown!" Mademoiselle Jacqueline Moreau was a very tall, pretty, obviously french fox with a very thick accent. She was a scientist, and a very good and dedicated one at that but, even when she was on a date or something, she always wore a lab coat. And tonight she wasn't letting down her reputation. Under the lab coat, she was wearing a casual red mini dress with a pair of 3 quarter length tights underneath and black ankle boots. Since she couldn't do much with her hair, her short bob cut was out with a red head band, keeping most of her hair back though she had grown her fringe out since the last time I saw her, making it a small side fringe and her bushy tail was swinging from side to side behind her. "It is so wonderful to see you again!"

"The pleasure is all mine Mademoiselle Moreau."

"Please, just call me Jacquie! There is no need to be so formal."

"Thank you. Would you like to come in? It must be terribly cold out there!"

"Ah, merci." She walked into the room like a queen, even the perfect slowness of the steps though, there was some sort of sadness on her face that wasn't there a moment ago, as if she had put on a mask. I didn't think it very important, so I let it go. She stoppped in the middle of the room, looking around at the doors. "Where is your mother? I ave some important business to discuss with er."

"She's in the lounge room. Would you like me to show you where it is?"

"No, i'm sure I can manage. I still remember this ouse from the last time I was ere."

And true to her word, she walked without hesitation to the lounge room, as if it were her own house she was walking in. As we walked in the door, my mother said, "Who was it swe- oh my god! Jacqueline! I haven't seen you in ages! It's so good to see you. Why are you here so late?"

"It is not a very appy subject and it is one that I would never like to ear about, let alone be the bringer of such terrible news."

"What is it?" I asked, intrigued but worried. What could have happened?

"*sigh* You might want to sit down." My mother and I sat, waiting anxiously for the news. "Well, i'm very sorry to tell you this but, at around 2.30 pm ere, at Ethan's, your fathers, work site, there was a terrible accident. The ice beneath the site collapsed and alf of the men went down. Your father was one of these unfortunate souls though it is strange for we did not find is body. I am so sorry to tell you about..." She kept speaking, but I couldn't listen. I felt as if my world had collapsed around me, and all of the weight of it was crushing me.

My father was dead.

Silent tears started to fall from my eyes. My mother was crying aswell, though, I gather much louder and harder than I had ever seen someone cry and her tears reminded me of heavy rain falling down on a moving car window.

As my hearing was starting to come back to me, Jacquie was handing something to me, saying something that I didn't quite catch. She gave me a look that, despite what I just heard, was quite comforting.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and tried to stop crying. "I'm sorry, what did you say? I didn't quite catch that."

She smiled even wider. "This is the present your father was going to give you. He didn't want to wait until he came back and he knew I was coming on your birthday." I wanted to take the present out of her hands and rip the wrappings to shreads. But, with unusual calmness, I took the present, unfolded the wrapping paper, making sure not to rip it, and opened the box.

I gasped.

In that box was one of the most beautiful necklaces I had ever seen. I could see without even having to get a good look at it, the silver chain was perfectly made, thin, intertwining pieces of metal that looked like they would break at the slightest pull. The pendant was a blue jewel the size of a golf ball, shining in the glimmer of the overhead light. I turned over the stone and saw an engraving on the back. It said:

_For my darling daughter,_

_On Your 16__th__ Birthday_

_Love from your Loving father_

_who deeply wishes he was there_

I started crying again, this time loud sobbing. That meant so much more than he thought it did at the time. As my tears fell into the box, the paper became seethrough and I saw a glint of something. I lifted it back and saw a small dagger with a blue jewel encrusted hilt. I picked it up and poked a little bit into my skin. I pulled back after it the slightest touch of the blade, as it had already pierced my skin, blood slowly dripping from the cut.

My mother gasped. I looked at her and I saw her looking at the dagger as if it were an old friend she hadn't seen since she was young. "That was your fathers dagger. It has been passed down from generation to generation. The first person to have it in this family actually won it in a game of poker 1000 years ago. The first time I saw that knife, your father was saving me from being mugged."

I looked at my mum in surprise. She never told me anything about that, but I didn't press any further as I could see she was on the verge of crying again. I turned to Jacquie and saw that she was starting to get up.

"Leaving so soon?"

"Yes, I must get back to my own family. They will be missing me as I ave been missing them."

"Well, if you must go, then I hope to see you later."

"Me aswell, except on more plesant terms next time. A bientot!" She gave my mother and I a hug and then left for her car.

"Seeya!" I yelled out the door as she backed out of the driveway. I walked over to my mum, tears still falling from my eyes, and hugged her, comforting her. Over time, her hysteric crying became small sobs, then she stopped crying, and I realized she had fallen asleep. I scouped her up and carried her to her bed, pulling the blanket over her. I then walked back to the lounge room, picked up the presents that I had gotten, and went into my own room.

As I walked into my room, I stared at the knife, and I thought of an idea. I half ran to my desk, reaching for a pen and paper and started writing.

_Hey mum,_

_By the time you get this, I will probably be halfway_

_to Antarctica by now. And I know what you're_

_thinking, and no, I haven't lost my mind. I know that_

_dad is alive and i'm going to look for him. It may_

_not be the smartest idea and I know the dangers of_

_what i'm about to do but I _will_ come home. Soon._

_Please don't be worried. I love you._

_Iris._

I layed down the note on the desk, making it obvious for my mum to see. I put on my warmest clothes (blue beanie, long grey top, eskimo jaket, elbow length cut-off gloves, thick jeans, wooly socks and ugboots), tucked the knife into my right shoe, put the pendent around my neck, and I then untied my ears (I know how weird that sounds but my oc is distant cousins with Cream the Rabbit) and flew to 1 of the 2 coldest places in the world.

If there is such a thing as being so cold, it burns, I was going through it right now. My feet were practically ice blocks, my hands refused to move from where they were and I was almost frozen where I was. But I felt like I was burning! How was that even physically possible!

But I had to go on.

I was wondering if my eyes were playing a cruel trick on me, because I swear I saw a light in the distance, however faint. As I came closer, I saw something moving. It might have been a person.

Oh thank god! I was saved!

I stopped and called out, hoping he or she might have heard me. To my surprise and relief, he or she turned his or her head.

My head started blazing.

I screamed.

The snowy white became pitch black.

I woke up, but I kept my eyes shut. There was confusion.

"Get her to the hospital wing now! We need to get a diagnosis on her A.S.A.P!" It was a male voice. A bit husky, but a tone of softness mixed in.

I was amazed at myself at how I can be so descriptive when I'm close to unconsciousness.

"Can we get some candy on the way?" Another male.

"NO! How could you even think of food in a time like this?" The first male shouted in anger.

The second male sounded agitated. "Are you seriously asking that question?"

My eyes fluttered open. A third male voice said to me "Shh! You need to rest. Close your eyes. Sleep." He had a calming tone to his voice, and, somehow, I knew I could trust him, even after everything I had been through.

I slowly closed my eyes, and another period of darkness began.

Everything around me was warm and soft though there was something weird on my legs, arms and the chest area. I groaned, moving around a bit. "Oh good, you're awake. Welcome to the Antarctic Research and Rescue base." Female. Hedgehog. She looked about 16 and she was very pretty and obviously favored purple seeing the little ensemble she had on. She flicked her short fringe to the side and, for the slightest second, I saw this glint of green, reflected from the dim light.

As my eyes came into focus, I realized there was machines next to the bed I was lying in, explaining the weird things that I felt on my body. They were measuring my vital body signatures.

"Are you gonna be able to sit up sweetie? You haven't eaten in days!" I noticed she had a steaming bowl of some sort of soup.

I nodded and said, "I think I'll manage." With a little difficulty, I managed to sit up. "What is that?"

The purple stranger put some in my mouth and said. "Bell pepper soup with chili and jalapeño sauce. Heats itself! Don't ask."

I almost spit it out of my mouth when the heat started to hit. I hate anything spicy or hot. Surprisingly, though, I found that the burning sensation it brought made my icy insides feel better. I hadn't even realized how cold I was until at ate that soup. I said to her, "Thank you. You're very kind."

"It was no problem at all. You know it's a miracle you even survived for how long you did! Why did you wear such thin clothes? Well, thin for here at least."

I looked down to my clothes as a reflex and realized to my astonishment, that I had changed into a pair of pyjamas. I couldn't believe that I didn't realize that a second ago. I explained to her, "I'm usually immune to the cold. Family thing. I can even go ice-skating with a skirt and a tank top. But I guess I should have at least brought extra clothes."

"You're telling me! Anyways, it shouldn't be me that you're thanking."

"I haven't forgotten about that. Where is he or she?"

"_He_ will be here when you get up. For now though, you must rest." She grabbed the water from beside the bed and, while handing it to me, she explained, "My name is Jazz, by the way. Oh, don't worry." She said before I could open my mouth. "I already know your name. And so does everyone on the base. It's very beautiful. Now," Jazz said as she pushed my head back towards the pillow, "rest. You need all of the strength and warmth you can get." Jazz took the empty glass out of my hand and put the bowl in the other. "Get well soon."

I was already fast asleep before she even started the last sentence.

My eyes fluttered open. I pulled my arms from put of the blankets and saw that the wires were all gone. I felt my chest and legs and knew that they were gone to. I pulled the blankets away from my body and tried to stand up. My legs felt like jelly and I collapsed back on the bed.

Someone walked in the door.

"Oh hey sweetie! How's it going?" It was a brown hedgehog, wearing a light green tank top, almost black green jeans, black ballet flats and a black cardigan (I know, you're think 'OMG! Green and brown? Ewwww!' But no it actually looks good) with her hair tied back into a high pony tail with a light green headband. She looked about 20 years old.

"I'm alright. My legs feel like jelly though and I can't get up."

"Let me help you there." After she got me standing properly, she said to me, "My name is Lila. There's 2 other girls who's names are Jazz, who you already met, and Sally, and 3 guys who's names are Richter, Zoomer and Damien but everybody calls him Blue. Blue was the one who rescued you. Don't worry. It's not as confusing as it sounds. I'll point them out for you."

"Thank you." She helped me up and put my arm around her shoulders for extra support. I was lead out of the room and, as I was walking, I heard a beautiful melody being played on a guitar. We walked into the living room. This was were the guitar was coming from. Here, there was Jazz. She was wearing a light purple, strapless top with three quarter tights, ballet flats and her hair was out into a shoulder length pixie cut. She was cuddling up to a quite handsome male hedgehog, about 17 years old. He was the one playing the guitar. He wore nothing but sneakers and shorts. He was a little muscular, had black fur and striking orange eyes.

"Iris," Lila began to explain. "This is Zoomer and, of course you know Jazz."

Zoomer looked up from his guitar, without hesitating in his complicated guitar chord, and said "Hey." This was the one who coaxed me into my sleep the first night here. "Nice to finally meet you. Without you being close to death and all that. You've been out for nearly two weeks!"

My eyes widened. "Well," I laughed. "I guess that's why my legs feel like jelly."

"Yeah, no wonder." He then went back to focusing on his guitar, though I bet he didn't need to.

Jazz didn't look away from Zoomer's quick fingers on the guitar as she said "Hey Iris. Good to see you up. Seeya later."

Lila laughed. "You know, the term _see _means that you actually have to, you know, _look_ at her." Jazz flipped her off. "Let's leave these two love birds alone." Next she lead me to the kitchen. Here, we saw an orange echidna, stuffing his face with a bowl of ice-cream bigger than his head, with all different colors and toppings. I automatically new this was the person who wanted to stop for candy on the way to taking me to the ER.

"Oh hey!" He said through a mouth literally bulging with food. "I'm Richter.." He scooped me up in a huge bear hug. Caught by surprise, I just dangled there. He then surprised me even further by taking my foot and hanging me upside down and then he surveyed me closely, pulling up high enough to be face to face. "Hmm..." He then put me down and he pulled open my mouth, looking very interested. I could taste all the different flavours of ice cream on his hands and, I can tell you, it's not a very good feeling. He then proceeded to pat me down but it got a little too personal.

I jumped back and snapped at him, "Dude! Personal space! Ever heard of it?"

"In fact no I haven't." He turned to Lila and explained, "She seems normal enough."

Lila was having way too much fun with this. Trying to calm herself down, she said, "That was my original opinion on this one."

He could see she wasn't being serious, so he glared at her, which only made her seem to laugh a little harder. He turned back to me, reaching out his hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

I muttered so only I could hear, "Can't say I feel the same for you."

"What's that?"

"Nothing. I just said it's a pleasure to meet you too." I said as I reached out for his hand to shake it.

"That's what I thought."

I turned to Lila and smiled. "Everyone seems so," I paused for a second, trying to find the right word, "nice here."

"Don't speak so soon, my friend."

I was confused. "What do you mean by that?"

"You shall see." She looked back to Richter as we were leaving the room. "Save some of that for me."

"No promises." He called after us.

When we were far enough away, I asked, "Is that... normal?"

"Yes, actually, it is. He even did it to his parents when he was young."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. Honestly, I have no idea what he judges it on, but... when he does it, he can really judge a person."

Lila lead me to a long hallway with doors with names and pictures on them. Obviously rooms. There was muffled yelling coming from behind a door at the end of the hallway.

Lila tried holding back her laughter. "Brace yourself. This might be messy." As she lead me up to the door, I read the name 'Sally' on the door. Next to the name, there was a picture of a beautiful animal in an almost equally beautiful gown that could only be flattering to someone of her shape. It was obviously at some sort or important event, maybe her prom night. She looked about 16 in the photo, brown fur, blue eyes and she looked like a fairly nice person.

"I know what you're thinking. Don't be fooled by the picture. This animal is a _real_ animal. Especially towards her boyfriend. SUPER protective."

"And I'm guessing that her boyfriend is the one who saved me that night."

"Yup." Lila knocked on the door.

"_**WHAT?**_" A very agitated girls voice came from the other side of the door.

"The girl's awake!" Lila yelled back.

"I don't care! Now, GO AWAY!"

"Come on Sally! Be nice for once in your life." This was a males voice. It was obviously the voice of my rescuer. Damien, or as everybody called him Blue.

There was a silence so intense from behind the door that I felt like I could cut the atmosphere with a knife. "Don't you _**dare**_ talk to me that way you useless wolf! I can find someone even better than you within a minute!"

"You can find someone better than me within a minute, in the middle of Antarctica? You won't be able to find _**anyone**_ within a minute, let alone someone remotely close to me. Especially since most of the work sites have been cleared by now. Unless you want to go back home."

"Why you little-"

Blue cut her off. "Just open the damn door!"

"Okay, okay! Calm down." Sally sounded scared. By the sound of his voice, I would.

A beautiful female animal opened the door, looking very pissed off. The picture didn't do her justice, in more ways than one. She was about 18 now and she was wearing a white bandoo (bra with no straps) with a white spider-net top over the top, a black mini-skirt (literally at her butt) and black wedge heels.

"Hi." She turned back to the man behind her. "Satisfied?"

"No, actually. I'm not." Blue came up to the door. He was well built (like, "hits the gym every week and regular exercise" well built), tall (about 6 foot 2), a masculine bone structure but he had startling light blue eyes against black fur, like mine. His eyes were very warm and welcoming, as was his body language. Complete opposite to the animal next to him. He was wearing a tight, black t-shirt, showing off all of his muscles, baggy jeans with a few rips in it from years of use, a bushy tail, swishing from side to side, bare feet (though, he looks like the kind of dude who would either wear flip-flops or runners) and a think watch around his wrist.

"Hi. I'm Damien, but everybody calls me Blue." He held out his hand to shake it. As my hand touched his, a kind of shiver went up my spine and I saw one go up his as well. I was about to snatch my hand back, but he brought me forward and into a huge bear hug, like the one Richter gave me earlier. "There's none of that hostility here. We're all family here!"

"Hmph." Sally was even more agitated than before, which I didn't think was physically possible.

As Blue set me down, he whispered in my ear "Don't mind Sally. She has major anger management problems."

"Well, thank you for making me feel so welcome," I said. "but I have to get going now."

Sally brightened up like it was New Years. "I'll show you the door."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute." Blue stopped Sally in her tracks. "Why do you have to go, and why in such a hurry?"

"The reason that I came here." I said vaguely.

"Which was?" Blue egged me on.

I sighed. "My father came to work here, on a research facility near Mawson's Hut. He was digging for ice that would give clues for wild life that lived here thousands of years ago." Tears started to fall down my face. "3 weeks ago, on my birthday, one of my dads co-workers and close friends on the site, came to our house and told my mum and me that, the ice collapsed under the work site that my dad was assigned to work. Half died, my father supposedly among them, but they did not find my fathers body. I came here, to look for my dad, because I know that he's still alive."

"Oh my goodness!" Lila was sobbing. "I'm so sorry!" She came up to me and hugged me.

Between my sobbing, I managed to say "And to top it all off, my mother's pregnant. She hasn't told me but, I know my mother better than anyone and I know a pregnant woman when I see one. She won't be able to work for a while, my work won't cover two let alone three mouths and my stubborn mother won't accept any money from family friends."

Blue joined in with the hug. There were no tears, but he obviously felt compassion. "Well, there's no use in you going out there and getting yourself killed. Stay here for a while, get your strength up. And when you do get strong enough, we'll all help you find your dad."

I wiped the tears from my face. "You'd do that for me?"

"Well, we're not doing anything at the moment because there seems to an unusual calm in activities. We'd do anything for a friend, old or new."

Sally scoffed. "Speak for yourself."

"Sally!" Blue snapped.

Sally just glared. After a moment of silence, she stormed off to her room.

"Well, now that she's gone, let's go have some fun." Lila clapped her hands together and she started thinking.

"Hey, cut her some slack." Blue defended. "She isn't that bad." A moment of silence. Lila and Blue looked at each other, then threw their heads back and started laughing hysterically.

"You're too funny." Lila managed to say in between her laughter. "Whoo. Let's gather up the others."

We all gathered up in the lounge room except Zoomer. I helped Lila and Blue get snacks for everybody, the majority of it being Lila's and Richter's. We had to send Zoomer back because there wasn't enough for everybody.

"So, them eating this much is normal?" I said, dropping the enormous amount of food on the coffee table.

"Ooooh yeah!" Blue explained. "If we didn't know Richter before this, we'd have to quit this operation on the first day."

"But why just Richter? What about Lila?" I asked.

"Well, you see, Richter, Zoomer and I started this project. We recuse wild-life and, if needed, people. Lila was in a plane crash. She was heading to South America for a holiday with her family. They left her behind because they couldn't find her. We nursed her back to health and, she decided to stay here with us to help. And, before you ask, the plane planned to go to all of the continents. Some sort of luxury flight or something.

"Jazz was in one of the workplaces around here and, in a blizzard, she was separated from her group. Swooped up by a very treacherous wind. She landed right outside of the base. She, obviously, decided to stay here and help.

"Sally, well, she was my girlfriend before we set this up. She missed me so much, she decided to come here and visit."

I was surprised by the last one. "Sally never struck me as being the sentimental type."

"To tell you the truth, neither did I." Blue explained.

Everyone laughed until our sides were sore.

Just then Zoomer walked into the room, with more stuff to eat.

He was about to ask something, probably why we were all laughing but, curiosity overwhelmed me, so I had to ask. "You know, you guys are pretty close for people who have met each other only a little while ago. The way you act around each other... it's like you've known each other for ages."

Richter laughed. "Well, when you're stuck in the middle of an icy desert, you get to know a guy. It wasn't that long till we found out how much we had in common-"

"- And how much we liked each other because of it." Lila finished, cuddling up too Richter.

I suppressed aww-ing because I didn't wanna ruin the moment. "That is so awesome. Who knew you could find love in the middle of no-where?"

"They did apparently." Jazz said.

"So," Zoomer asked. "What movie are we watching?"

"We, are watching _Paul_." Richter told him.

"OMG, I love that movie!" Jazz said.

"Same!" Lila exclaimed. "It's like, that stupid funny that you shouldn't laugh at but you still do because it's just so funny!"

As Richter put the DVD in, I checked the clock above the T.V. I was surprised to see that it was already 9:30 and I was wide awake. (Note: It was p.m., in case that wasn't clear). I was probably gonna have serious jet-lag, or something.. I thought to myself.

The rest of the night was pretty normal, all things considered. Sally left us alone, which was good. It was kind of awkward at the beginning because I was squished in between Blue and Richter on the 4 seater (on which it had 6 people) but I quickly relaxed. It was kind of hard not to. As we came into the second movie (_Abduction_), started getting really tired and in the third (_Sherlock Holmes_) I finally fell asleep.

I woke up in a bed similar to the one I woke up in the first night I was here. I breathed in and smelt my favorite flower, iris (ironic, eh?). The room was full of them. And the room was decorated in my favorite colors - blue, purple, black and white. A bookshelf as high as the ceiling was filled with my favorite books and another whole bookshelf with ones that I hadn't heard of before. There was a flat screen television hanging on the wall, all of my favorite movies, a playstaion and xbox with all of my favorite games, a mac book computer and a basket of all of my favorite kinds of junk foods and chocolates. _I think I could get used to this_, I thought to myself. I notice my iPod next to my bed. _How the hell did they get my iPod? _Walked over to the huge (and I mean HUGE) built in wardrobe at the other end of the room, opened it, and found my exact style of clothing inside, which are my exact size, and a whole bunch awesome shoes. I changed out of my dirty clothes and into a light purple and blue mini dress, a pair of tights, a black cardigan, a pair of high-heeled ankle boots and I put back on my necklace which was on the bedside table.

As I walked out of the room, I noticed it was one of the rooms in the impossibly small hallway. I didn't see how it was physically possible to fit such large rooms in such a small hallway but I didn't let it bother me since I never really cared for the laws of physics (since you know, I can to fly with my ears) and I walked towards the living room, from where I heard the voices coming from.

Before anyone could say anything when I walked in, I said, with a lot of gusto "How the _hell_ did you get my iPod, find out the _exact style_ of clothing and accessories that I like, my favorite junk food _and_ what I always wanted my room to look like?"

I would have laughed at their expressions if I wasn't so freaked out at how stalker-ish all of this was.

"Well," Blue said, after a long moment of silence, "while you were knocked out, which was 2 weeks, if you don't mind me reminding you-"

"Actually yes, I do mind."

"You're mother had told us a lot of your favourite things, in a lot of detail by the way. We didn't need most of the information that she told us, since Jazz, our interior decorator, guessed most of it. And we told her, several times but she just kept pouring out information. She even told us how you liked your room to smell. She started to talk about you as a baby, but I stopped her before it could get too embarassing for you."

I glared at my mother, even though I knew she would never know.

*Meanwhile in Australia*

Iris's mum was sitting on the couch, reading her favourite book and eating some hot chip. She shivered. "Oh! I just got a sudden chill, like, someone was glaring at me from thousands of miles away."

*Back in Antarctica*

Blue must have mistook who my glare was aimed at, which i'm not surprised at, because partly, it was meant for him, and he looked even more nervous than he did before. "Look, I didn't mean to creep you out like that, we _all_ didn't, but we like to make our guests as comfortable as possible."

I sighed. The room was nice, and they must have gone to a lot of trouble just to make it but...

"Why did you make that room for me? I mean, it's not like i'm gonna stay here for long."

Jazz grinned. "Well, maybe you could."

"Am I supposed to know what she's talking about?"

"At this base, we have had some insidenses," Zoomer explained. "You see, at first, it was only Blue, Richter and I here. We created this base to defend land laws and some evil underground stuff that we're probably gonna have to deal with later. Then, about a month afterwards, we found Lila outside the base, in the same - "

"I was told the story of how you found them before."

Richter said, "Probably the best day of Zoomer's and my life when they decided to stay. They actually turned out to be really helpful to."

"So, here we are, smack, bang in the middle of Antarctica," Blue bluntly stated. "And here, might be the place that you will stay at for, well, to be frank, however long you like."

I replied after a short silence, "I can go home anytime I like?"

"Yup."

"Alright then. I'll stay."

"Well that was quick."  
>Richter looked suspicious. "A little too quick, in my opinion."<p>

I explained, "If you must know my reasons, then they are this. You say I can leave whenever I please? Then I may as well stay and see if I like it first, and if my first impressions are right, I think I will. And, if I may, everyone is so nice here."  
>Jazz then said, "Yo bro, why so formal? You are gonna live with us."<p>

"I dunno. Felt like it."

"Is there any other reason?" Richter asked.

"You could be a stuck up snob."

"True, true." He agreed.

Awkward silence. "Sooo," I said, breaking the quiet. "What do you guy normally do around here?"

"Well, since this base is built for rescuing animals and protecting land laws and fighting some crooks, we recuse animals and defend the law." Zoomer explained.

"But," Lila continued, "Since there seems to be no activity today, we can do whatever."  
>Jazz looked really excited. "Oh yay! I can battle you in Just Dance. I warn you though, only one person has only ever come close to beating me."<br>"Well... we'll see about that."  
>"Oh, someone's a little cocky aren't they? Come on. Let's see if you have a right to even dare challenge me." She winked and then took my arm and started pulling me into a different room.<p>

"I'm gonna have to see this!" Blue started following us but then an alarm when off and red lights started to flash all over the base.

"Oh _come on!_" Jazz was really dissapointed, but she sighed and dragged me in the opposite direction of which we were going.

"What's going on?" I shouted over the noise.

"Your first job. And it ain't no animal!" Jazz shouted back.

What did I agree to?


End file.
